One on One

The Man:

My eyes snap open and I find myself floating in a dark, empty void. As far as the eyes can see, there isn't anything here.

"Hello," I shout. I hope to hear the sound of my echo but there is no echo. I really am in a void. "But wait, this can't be right. This is supposed to be Kara's mind. Why is it so empty? Why does it feel so cold in here?"

I can see my breath as clear as day. Every time I breathe out, even through my nose, I can see white smoke. I look down at my transparent blue arm and despite it being ghost-like, I think I can see what looks like frostbite on it.

"I like the cold, but this is going a bit too far."

My head turning left and right, I scan for Kara.

"Kara," I shout, "Kara! Where are you? It's me. I'm here to help you!"

There is no reply.

"Shoot," I cry.

Flying around the void, I look all over for where Kara could be.

"Kara! Kara! Where are you? Can you hear me? Hello?"

I feel like I'm flying through space. Only without the stars, planets, or asteroids. Screaming and cursing, I look at my pale-blue hand again.

"Hmm," I think. I adjust my sunglasses, making sure it isn't loose. "I have to be careful."

Focusing, I start to glow brighter. The black space around me is starting to turn blue. It takes only a few more seconds before I pull myself apart. My head separates front before my body splits into two. My legs are the final things to pull themselves apart.

Despite there being two of me now, I knew it would not be enough.

"Kara's mind is big. I need to copy myself a few more times in order to search it completely."

"Are you sure that's a wise move," my copy asks. "If we copy ourselves too many times over, we'll drain the blue ring's power fast, and once the ring's power is drained, we'll have to use our own power. I must remind the risk of using our own power."

I look at myself in the sunglass.

"I know," I answer, "But for the time being, we have no other choice. Are you ready?"

"Yeah," my copy grunts.

With a nod of our heads, we start to separate over and over again. Soon, there are dozens of us, all flying in different directions.

"When one of us found Kara," copy #56 telepathic says.

"Alert the others,", copy #48 finishes.

All of me search frantically for Kara. We go as far as possible, flying high and low, turning left and right, and even circling back to triple-check an area if we must.

While flying through the void, I notice something off. There, not too far in the distance, seem to be a little silver of something. It appears to be some sort of platform, with Kara right on top of it.

"I find her," copy #8 yells. "Everyone, return to me at once."

Despite none of the others being around me, I can sense them nodding their heads. Simultaneously, they are turned into blue beams and fly right into me.

"Now that I'm back in one piece," I think, slowly hovering toward Kara. As I approach Kara, I start to hear her voice. It sounds like her but it isn't her.

"You can't do anything," Kara says. "You can't beat him. He's too strong. You failed the world. You failed Bruce when he needed you the most."

"I tried," Kara cries. The Kara I see is on her knees. Her head is lowered and she looks lifeless. "I tried to help Bruce."

"You tried but you couldn't do it," the other Kara shouts. "You failed Bruce. You failed Batman and now he is under your evil cousin's control. Not only him but all of the world. You couldn't do anything. Even with all your powers, you couldn't do anything, and you still can't."

Landing on the little sliver of the platform with the downed Kara, I take a step but stop almost immediately. There are shards of glass I didn't notice before. They're all around us, and they seem to show Kara's memory. I see Kara crying as she is talking to a woman with long blond hair, very similar to Kara.

"Alura In-Ze," I think, recognizes Kara's mother. It's only a few minutes later when Alura is murdered and Krypton is destroyed. Showing in another shard is when I think Kara learned the truth about Superman. When she learned that he killed the Joker. The final shard is showing Kara back in her cell. Superman is glowing Brainiac armor is standing before her, and a mind-controlled Batman walked up to her. Kara turns to see this but the seconds she does, she cries and looks back down.

"Hey Kara," I say, placing my hand on her shoulder. She doesn't respond. "Hey, Kara. It's me. You remember me, right."

Once more, she doesn't respond. She doesn't even bother to look at me. The only things that answer me are the annoying shards of glass.

"Okay, that's enough! Piss off all of you!"

Holding up two fingers, I swing my hand and send out a wave of blue energy. The waves of blue energy cut right through the glass shards and destroy them. The leftover pieces fall to the ground where they stay for a bit before disappearing completely.

Destroying every single shard until none are left, I then turn toward Kara. She is still down on the ground. Even with the shards gone, I know Kara can still hear the voice.

Standing in front of her, I drop to a knee and place my two fingers on the top of her head.

"Kara," I think. "I know you can hear me. Focus on my voice. My voice only. I know you think you failed. I know it seems hopeless. I know it seems like Superman is invincible but you must remember never to give up. There will always be dark times ahead. The dark times are easy to remember because they haunt you like ghosts. They whisper in your ears, remind you of everything you did wrong."

I see a tear falls and hits the ground.

"But that is why you must fight to remember the better times," I say. "Remember. Remember."

I show Kara all the times she did not fail. I show her fight against Nightwing. I remind her of our fights against the Dr. Fate clones.

"Kara, everyone in life had failures and successes. Everyone had their ups and downs. Everyone thinks they are worthless at one point or another but they are wrong. You are wrong. You cannot control the failures, but you can control your successes. Make this one of them. Break free of Darkseid's control and come back to me."

I pull back my fingers and open my eyes. As soon as they open, I see Kara looking up at me. Despite the tears pouring out from her eyes, I can see she is smiling. Her smile is weak and shaking but it is still a smile.

"Hey Kara," I say, "How's life?"

"It's a little better now," she replies. Without any warning, without saying a word, Kara suddenly leans forward and hugs me. She squeezes the life out of me.

"There, there," I say, hugging and patting her back. "It's not your fault. It's that stupid thing Darkseid stuck on your head."

"I know," she cries, "I know, but still. I have lost so much in such a short time. I have failed so many times. Every time I try to help, someone gets hurt."

"I know the feeling. Believe me. We have a lot of skills and powers, but we are not gods. Things will happen with or without us. Still. We can control our own--"

"Successes," Kara says, finishing my sentence.

We part ways and look at each other.

"Why are you blue, and see-through? Oh my god. Are you a ghost?"

"No, no, no," I say with a shake of my head and hands. "Well, sort of but not exactly."

"I don't get it."

"I'll explain later."

"You say that a lot but so far, you never have."

I slap myself in the face.

"Listen, Kara," I say, grabbing both of Kara's shoulders. "Just wake up, okay? Just wake up, and don't ask too many questions. There are a lot of confusing things going on right now, but for now, just wake up. I'll see you on the other side."

With that, I leave Kara's mind.